TheAttachedMama Posted March 7, 2019 Share Posted March 7, 2019 (edited) Hi Everyone! I have a couple of questions related to Mystery Science: 1) Has anyone ever used Mystery Science with a small group of children? There is a pretty big age gap between my youngest and my older two children. I am finding that I will often skip over fun stuff like science and art with him just because it isn't as easy to combine. I am thinking of scheduling a regularly occurring science and art playdate at my house to hold me accountable. If you have used Mystery Science with a group successfully, could you tell me how you have structured your time? I am assuming you could complete one exploration per week? 2) What are the "Read-Along Mysteries"? My child is not reading well yet. So are we going to be able to do these? Do you feel they are worthwhile or just busy work? 3) Has anyone put together a reading list to go with the Mystery Science units? 4) The other two science programs I am considering are Early Elementary Science Education (book based off of BFSU) and Memoria Press's Enrichment Package for Kindergarten (and their guide). Do *YOU* have an opinion about which is the best? If so, please share! Which do you think would be easiest to teach? Which do you think a typical 6-year-old boy would most appreciate and like doing? Edited March 7, 2019 by TheAttachedMama Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blendergal Posted March 7, 2019 Share Posted March 7, 2019 It would be SO easy to do Mystery Science with a small group of kids. The instructions and supply lists often tell you how much of X or how many copies of Y you'll need for each student or each pair of students, depending on how you want to do it. Each of the mysteries would probably take you 30-45 minutes to walk through. So depending on how much time you want to spend, you could add on some read-aloud time or even do a second mystery in the same series. We think the read-along mysteries are boring. We also think the mysteries for the youngest grades are boring. Unless you have a decidedly un-science-y group of kids, I would suggest choosing mysteries that are more of a stretch. I have never seen a reading list, but the lessons themselves sometimes suggest a resource or two, as I recall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M.K.22 Posted March 9, 2019 Share Posted March 9, 2019 Mystery Science is actually designed for small groups. It would be a perfect fit for what you want to do. You can get a year of free limited access so you could easily use Mystery Science with another curriculum if you want to cover other topics or if you just want to test out the mysteries without spending a lot of money. There is very little prep time. Like blendergal said, all you have to do is print out the instructions and make sure you have all the needed supplies on hand ahead of time. The instructions will tell you exactly what you need for your group size. The videos guide the kids through the activity step by step. You will only have to help them if any of the children struggle with fine motor skills like cutting and folding. The are several mysteries that have instructions for "big kids" and "little kids" so you can have a group of kids of different ages all work together on those activities without any extra work for yourself. I don't have a reading list, but if you click on "extras" on the start screen for each mystery, you will see links to books (usually ebooks), articles, extension activities, extra videos, and tests (if you want to go that route!). We haven't done any of the read along mysteries so I can't comment on that. Sorry. By the way, what a great idea! Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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